5
Featured Events
2003Coldplay frontman Chris Martin marries actress Gwyneth Paltrow a year after meeting her backstage at one of his concerts. They divorce in 2016 after consciously uncoupling.
1998Billboard changes the way they calculate the Hot 100, finally accounting for airplay. Previously, if a song wasn't available for purchase as a single, it couldn't chart. As labels withheld singles to goose album sales, popular songs like "Don't Speak" and "One Headlight" were conspicuously absent from the chart, prompting the change.
1993Onetime Gin Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins commits suicide at age 32. Hopkins was fired from the group before the release of their debut album, New Miserable Experience, but the biggest hits from that album, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," were songs he wrote.
1980Speaking with Rolling Stone's Jonathan Cott, John Lennon gives his last print interview; he is killed three days later.
1932Richard Wayne Penniman, who will become known as Little Richard, is born in Macon, Georgia.
5
In Music History
2017French music star Johnny Hallyday dies of lung cancer at 74.
2016Boy George appears on the reality show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when it's revealed that he's the regular houseguest of newest housewife Dorit Hemsley and her talent manager husband PK.
2015Soul singer Leon Bridges is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, singing "Smooth Sailin'" and "River" from his debut album Coming Home.
2012Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dies one day before his 92nd birthday.
2012Alicia Keys scores her fifth #1 on the Billboard albums chart with Girl On Fire.
2010The cast of the show Glee performs on the reality competition show The X Factor.
2010Porn director-turned-blues musician John Leslie dies of a stroke at age 65.
2004In Washington D.C., Elton John receives a Kennedy Center honor.
2002Elton John guest stars on Will and Grace, one of the first shows featuring a lead character who is gay.
2001David Crosby and Don Henley headline a benefit concert that raises $300,000 for children of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
1997At the KROQ Christmas concert in Los Angeles, Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro uses his own blood to write an encouraging message to Fiona Apple on her dressing room wall: "Fiona, have fun. Love, DN" He insists it's not creepy. "Fiona courageously shares with the world what comes from the beauty and pain that flows from within her heart," Navarro explains. "I simply chose to thank her for her honesty by leaving her a little note that comes from the beauty and pain that flows from my heart... literally."
1991In Worcester, Massachusetts, Soundgarden begin opening a string of arena shows in North America for Guns N' Roses, who are supporting their Use Your Illusion albums. The tour also includes a three-night stand at Madison Square Garden, the only time Soundgarden play the venue.
1981Damaged, Black Flag's debut album, is released. It will go on to become one of the most influential albums in the hardcore punk genre.
1980The movie Flash Gordon, with a theme song by Queen, opens in theaters.
1980U2 play their first show in the US when they perform at The Ritz Ballroom in New York City.
Beyonce Channels Etta James In Cadillac Records
2008The musical biopic Cadillac Records premieres in US theaters, with Beyoncé in a starring role as soul legend Etta James.
Cadillac Records is the story of Chess Records, a Chicago-based label started by Leonard Chess (played by Adrien Brody) in 1950 for black musicians, launching the careers of Etta James (Beyoncé), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker), and Chuck Berry (Mos Def). Of course, the real star of a movie about the rise of blues legends is the soundtrack, and Cadillac Records doesn't disappoint. The soundtrack is a mix of original songs and blues covers from the film's cast and guest artists like Solange Knowles and Nas. Beyoncé sings on five tracks: "Trust In Me," "I'd Rather Go Blind," "Once In A Lifetime," "All I Could Do Was Cry," and - Etta James' signature tune and the album's lead single - "At Last." Aside from spending 48 weeks at #1 on the Top Blues Albums chart, the soundtrack is nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Original Soundtrack Album and Best Original Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (for "Once In A Lifetime"). But it's Beyoncé who comes out a winner with Best Traditional R&B Performance for "At Last." A month after the film's release, Beyoncé sings her rendition of "At Last" at Barack Obama's inauguration ball while he and wife Michelle enjoy their first dance as president and first lady of the United States of America. The moment is famous for another reason: When Etta James gets wind of Beyoncé singing "her song" for the Obamas, she lashes out against the singer: "I can't stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever."
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